Texaco Dex-Cool - Antifreeze Just Got Better

Wintertime is probably the only time hot rodders think about antifreeze. Most look at it as something needed only if you live in cold-weather climates. But the reality, according to Texaco engineer Scott Lindholm, is that the anticorrosion protection offered by antifreeze—especially Texaco's new Dex-Cool—is the reason you should use antifreeze/coolant year-round.

While it is true that straight water is the best heat-transfer liquid you can use in an automotive application, straight water, even deionized or distilled water, is still highly corrosive. And the addition of corrosion inhibitors doesn't deliver a balanced anticorrosion package as does the new Dex-Cool.

But there's much more to this story than just anticorrosion properties. Texaco's Dex-Cool adds a brand-new blend of elements to the basic ethylene-glycol base. Existing antifreeze technology uses silicates and a series of additives to create the anticorrosion properties. These silicates form a chalky, white, anticorrosion barrier layer on aluminum components. Unfortunately, this coating also creates a mild thermal barrier that prevents coolant from pulling heat away from such critical areas as the combustion chamber. In addition, these silicates are highly abrasive, leading to the erosion of water pump seals.

Dex-Cool is a completely different formula of organic acid compounds that does not use silicates. This not only extends the life of water pump seals, but these additives also last much longer than previous ones. Moreover, because silicates are not used, thermal heat transfer is also improved. All of these benefits led GM to specify this coolant for all '96-and-newer GM cars and offer a five-year, 100,000-mile service life compared to two or three-year, 36,000-mile service intervals for conventional coolants. According to Lindholm, Dex-Cool is specifically formulated to provide excellent corrosion protection for aluminum cooling system components.

For hot rodders, Dex-Cool offers a number of advantages. The best way to take maximum advantage of the new antifreeze is to completely flush your cooling system with fresh water and add a 50/50 mix of water and Dex-Cool. Doing so will create a negative 34-degree F freezing point and increase the boiling point of the coolant as compared with straight water.

When you consider that Dex-Cool is similarly priced to high-silicate antifreeze, it seems this coolant should be the way to go, even if your hot rod never sees the cold side of 50 degrees F.